See the Sonics championship trophy for free Thursday

On Monday – the 30th anniversary of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA championship – I wrote about how the scene outside the former Coliseum was as close as could be to a ghost town outside a professional-grade venue.

Later that day, Mercedes Lawry over at the Museum of History and Industry sent a note on the whereabouts of the championship trophy.

It’s on display at MOHAI now. And here’s the best part: admission on the first Thursday of each month – today – is free.

MOHAI staff is still receiving and inventorying Sonics items. There are no specific plans for a Sonics exhibit right now, she said, but it might happen later depending on what the exhibit folks decide.

This week, I pulled the Sonics photo folders for 1978 and 1979. With most of the work done by reporter Sharon Hong, we put together this photo gallery. with images of the team and NBA championship celebration.

And in case you missed it, audio from a discussion about that era is posted below. On the 25th anniversary of the championship, broadcaster Bob Blackburn, forward John “J.J.” Johnson and retired Seattle Times reporter Greg Heberlein were members of a panel discussion about the Sonics at the Museum of History and Industry.

The discussion was produced, moderated and recorded by Feliks Banel, who provided this recording.

Front page and sports section cover from the day after the Sonics’ victory can be downloaded here. (PDF)